The Great Game
by The Mandalorian Batman
Summary: Starting on Stranger Things 2: Chapter Three, Eleven encounters Will when he has his vision, but they have an unexpected guest. Mike has been keeping a secret, his real name is Richie Tozier, and he and his family moved to Hawkins from Derry because of the grow child kidnappings. But when the thing that haunted Mike for so many years goes after Ell and Will, things get scary. AU


**Hello, you don't know me, most likely, anyway. So, I'm done watching Stranger Things 2 *FINALLY* and I had a couple ideas to modify season 2... the most interesting, of which, came to me after I thought about IT. What if Mike Wheeler was actually Richie Tozier, but he had his name changed after the whole thing at Derry, and moved to the remote location of Hawkins? Now, this is a MUCH different version of Stranger Things and IT, but it will be starting after the scene in chapter three where Eleven sees Mike and Max in the gym, and pushes Max off the board in anger. Please keep in mind, I have not included parts of IT, to fit the story, and obviously Richie's family is different, and they were frightened by Georgie's death, and moved almost instantly, but Mike is the only one in the family that really knew what happened. And most of the characters from IT (Beverly, Bill, Eddie, Stanley) will not really be in the fic for the majority. Now what makes this interesting? The ending of IT is different, Pennywise escaped and lived to feed another day, but he stayed a little longer to get revenge on the kids. He chased after Richie since he fled, so he was already scared, and it took enough time for him to get there for season one to happen, so Eleven, Lucas, Nancy, Jonathan, Hopper, Dustin, Steve, Max, and the others will have Pennywise to deal with, and Mike/Richie will have the fact that he brought this on them, as well as the monster to deal with. Now later the IT crew will show up, but not till much later in the story. So, without further delay, here is chapter one:**

* * *

 **Hawkins Middle, 4:02 PM**

"Please just stop." Mike said, unaware of who was watching him through the window.

"It's a simple question." Max replied, smirking, which only made Eleven more angry.

She couldn't take it, she had been forgotten, that was the look Mike only gave to _her_ , not whoever this was. She felt like she could snap this girl's neck she was so angry, but she wouldn't kill anyone but the bad men, so she focused on the girl's spine, and yanked it back, but not enough to cause an injury just to throw her off her board. She fell off, hitting her head on the ground, which made Eleven start to worry if she caused a concussion.

"Jeezus!" Mike gasped as he rushed to the girl's side, "Are you alright?"

"I think so." She said, as Mike grabbed her hand and helped her up, which made Eleven let out a small sob.

"What happened?" Mike asked the girl.

"I don't know, it was just, like, a magnet or something pulling on my board. I know that sounds crazy." She replied.

Eleven's heart hurt even more now, but she had to react quickly, because she saw the face Mike had when the girl said that. He slowly started to turn his head her way, but she ducked and rushed away, turning a corner toward the main entrance just as she heard the door open. Mike didn't call her name though, she supposed because he doubt it was her, but she was nearing the end of the school property when she her a familiar voice screaming something. She turned on her heel, looking across the school building to see the boy, Will, she and Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were trying to recover. She rushed closer, stopping near a small shed, looking out, as she heard what he was yelling.

"GO AWAY!" Will yelled, "GO AWAY!"

Eleven understood instantly. He was seeing visions, into the upside down, but what was he seeing? She ran out from behind the shed, rushing toward him as fast as she could. She stopped in front of him, and put her hands on his shoulders, "Will?" She asked, "Will? Will, what's wrong?"

He stopped screaming, she thought it was over, which it was, he looked down at her, "E- Eleven?"

Eleven was silent for a moment, she knew that it was only a matter of time before the bad men found her now, "Yes."

"Thanks, by the way." Will said.

Eleven was little confused, "What?"

"For finding me." He said, smiling.

Eleven smiled, "I promised."

Will's face got excited, "We need to find Mike!" He exclaimed, "Wait till he finds out you're alive!"

"No!" Eleven said.

Will looked back at her, "No?"

"Bad men." Eleven replied.

Will sigh, but nodded, as much as she wanted to talk to Mike again, she couldn't risk it. She and Will just looked at each other, but his eyes drifted to something behind her.

"Uh," Will's eyes were wide with fear, "Eleven?"

She turned, and saw an upside down triangle... that was made of balloons? She looked down, and a figure stood there, his face ws blocked by one of the balloons, but he wore an old suit, clown like, with a collar like one from one of Hopper's history lessons. The balloons started to float upward as the figure loosened his grip on the strings to the balloons, as his face was shown, he had a huge head, round, like it was too big for his body, and he had blood red lips, and strips that went up each of his puffy cheeks, his face a ghostly white, like an old timey clown. The scary kind.

He grinned in a twisted and demented way, large front teeth glinting in the sun, "Hello there," He said in a weird, clown-like voice, "Do you want a balloon?"

Will didn't answer, he was frozen in place, "Who are you?" Eleven asked.

"Oh, yes," The man said, "I'm Pennywise the dancing clown, so now, what's your names?"

Will was still silent, and Eleven wasn't so sure but she heard a door swing open to her right, "EL!" Mike yelled, joyfully, as he rushed toward her.

"Mike!" Eleven cried as she threw herself into him, hugging him close, like she would lose herself without him.

"Uh," Lucas stuttered, "Mike..." He pointed behind Eleven, as Mike saw him. And his face forgot all about his joy of seeing will only horror at what had come to Hawkins.

"Hello, Richie," The clown said, as Mike continued to stare, "Or should I call you Mike Wheeler?"

"How did you find me?" Mike demanded, "HOW?!"

"It didn't take long," The clown said, "What took long was getting here."

"Who's Richie?" Dustin asked.

"Me." Mike replied.

Dustin, Will, and Lucas stared at him.

"What about Bill?" Mike asked Pennywise, "What about Beverly, Stanley, Eddie, Ben, and Mike?"

"Oh, they are moving on, but you," Pennywise stepped forward, "You're still afraid. Which means you'll taste better."

Eleven suddenly felt the urge to get a balloon from him, her eyesight started to swirl, as she walked towards him.

"EL!" Mike yelled as he grabbed her sleeve, keeping her in place.

"Oh," Pennywise said, "I guess this is when you run," Fangs grew inside his mouth, "And I take you to my home, but don't worry, we all float down there..."

"Oh shit." Mike said, pulling Eleven along.

"You'll," Mike started to run, "Float,"

"GUYS RUN!" Mike shouted as the all followed him.

"TOO!" Pennywise yelled as Eleven looked behind her, as he rushed towards them, his teeth each a half a foot long, and he was running faster than what should be possible.

"OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!" Dustin screamed as they all burst through the door into the school.

"WHATTHEHELLISTHAT?" Lucas yelled.

They rushed inside as the turned a corner, Hopper and Joyce stood there, staring at them, "OUTTATHEWAY! OUTTATHEWAY!" Will screamed at them as Pennywise came rushing down the hall way, as wild as a clown could be, and as monsterous as a monster could be.

Joyce screamed and ran along with the boys and Eleven, "JEEZUS!" Hopper yelled as he went for his gun, but the clown was faster.

Pennywise grabbed him and pushed him up against the wall, "Oh no, no, no," He said in his regular voice despite the teeth being much longer, "You don't shoot a clown." And then he grabbed Hoppers hand, and bit it off.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hopper yelled in agony, as he clutched where his wrist used to be.

Pennywise spit it out, as he continued chasing after the others.

* * *

Max was leaving just as Will, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, a girl, and a woman came rushing around the corner.

"What the- WHOA!" She yelled as Dustin grabbed her hand taking her with them, and sure enough the clown came rushing after them, but Mike had an idea.

"Ell?" He shouted.

"Yes?" She answered.

"Can you stop him?" He didn't have Eleven the last time Pennywise came to him, so he was going to make sure he had an advantage over the clown.

She paused, but nodded. Eleven looked at the clown chasing them, her eyebrows furrowing, as he went flying into the flag pole on the side of the school, driving the flag right through his head.

"YEAH!" Will yelled.

"HOW YA LIKE THAT?" Dustin shouted at him.

"Don't tease him." Mike warned.

"Why not?" Lucas asked.

"Because last time he came back and almost killed me." Mike replied.

"Well, in any case," Dustin said, as they piled into Mrs. Byers car, "You've got some explain to do."

Eleven curled up into a ball once she was buckled in, and sobbed.

"Ell?" Mike asked, as she looked over at him, "You okay?"

"Sc- scared." Eleven answered, tears in her eyes.

"Hey," Mike said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "That's what he wants you to do, you taste better when you're scared to him."

"Wait, what?" Joyce said, stopping the car.

"Oh, uh, he wants to eat us." Mike said.

"Thisisn'thappening, thisisn'thappening..." Dustin mumbled.

Lucas put his hands on the sides of his head in worry, and Will's breathing went way up.

"But he can't if we aren't scared," Mike said, "Now you just shoved the good old american flag through his head."

Eleven let out a small snicker. Dustin smiled a little.

"So is he really that scary now?"

"No," Eleven said, "But still scary."

"Wait," Max said, "This is Ell?"

"Um, yeah." Mike answered, but Eleven remembered she was angry at her.

"I thought she moved away?" Max said.

"Um..." Lucas scratched the back of his neck.

"What exactly are you hiding from me?" Max demanded.

"Mouth breather." Eleven said, bitterly.

"Ell!" Lucas said, "That's mean, say your sorry."

Eleven remained silent.

"Wait a minute," Max said, "YOU pushed me off my board, didn't you?"

Eleven was still silent.

"DIDN'T YOU?!" Max shouted.

Eleven started to cry again.

"Ell?" Mike asked, "Was it you?"

"Y- yes."

"Why?" Dustin asked.

Eleven pointed to Max, then herself, "Replaced." She was sobbing now.

Mike looked at Max, who looked confused, and then it clicked in both their minds.

Mike looked at Eleven with a sad smile, "How could anyone replace _you_?" Mike asked, lifting her chin up gently, "I would _never_ , do you understand? _Never_ , replace you?"

Eleven smiled, sadly.

"I love you, Ell."


End file.
